Law-school applicants drop for third year in a row

Law-school applicants dropped 13.4 percent this year, according to data from the Law School Admission Council. As of May 17, about 55,760 people had applied to ABA-accredited law schools, the Washington Post reports.

Applicants have dropped three years in a row.

The Post spoke with Andrew Cornblatt, dean of admissions at Georgetown University Law Center, where applications dropped 6 percent this year. The school plans to keep its entering class the same size this fall, but Cornblatt wouldn’t be surprised if the school enrolls fewer people next year.

“That group of people who weren’t as committed just aren’t applying now,” Cornblatt told the Post. “The rest of world won’t weep over fewer people wanting to be lawyers, but for people like me who do admissions, it creates challenges. There are fewer top applicants and the same number of law schools fighting over a smaller pool of highly qualified applicants than four years ago.”